In 2019, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) updated its Environmental Emergency (E2) regulations and specified “an E2 Plan is required of any person who owns or has the charge, management or control of any of the regulated substances located at a facility” that “meets or exceeds the concentration threshold” set out by ECCC.

The completion of a facility’s E2 plan, however, is only the first of several required steps to maintain compliance under the E2 regulations. This work includes training your staff, making impact zone neighbor notifications (before, during and after an emergency), conducting an annual review of the plan, and completing a site-specific, small-scale exercise. These annual exercises could involve roundtable discussions on various emergency scenarios or conducting emergency response activities that may be encountered during a real emergency. A full-scale exercise must be conducted within five years of implementing an E2 plan.

As we now enter the fifth year working under these regulations, we encourage our Plan members to take the necessary steps to complete their mandatory, five-year, full-scale exercises to maintain regulatory compliance. These full-scale simulation exercises are action-based requiring the deployment of personnel, resources and equipment. The ECCC regulations (schedule 5) require the responsible party to have documented small and full-scale simulations and that documentation be available for inspection for up to seven years.

E2 plan holders are ultimately responsible for ensuring an effective emergency response and completing the required training exercises can be a daunting task for some. Conducting timely and robust simulation training is important to ensuring emergency plan readiness and can greatly assist staff in understanding their roles and responsibilities in the event of an environmental emergency at your site. 

ERAC can plan, facilitate, evaluate and provide the required pre- and post-exercise documentation for your small and full-scale exercises to ensure regulatory compliance, and most importantly, the safety of your employees and the public.

You can find more information here.

Spencer Buckland
President

The Board of Directors for ERAC and the Canadian Propane Association recently approved changes to the ERAC Board of Directors.

Congratulations to Anthony Ippolito of CN for stepping into the role of Chair, and to the new addition to the ERAC board, Rob Barrow of Eco-Pro Services Inc.

ERAC thanks past President and board member Jonathan Schindlbeck for his commitment and contributions to the board over his five-year tenure. 

Every year, ERAC conducts a Regional Training and Assessment (Regional) of each ERAC liquefied petroleum gas and flammable liquids response team. These annual assessments provide an opportunity for all ERAC responders to hone their skills and get updates on any new industry trends and developments, while they are assessed and approved to respond to incidents on behalf of ERAC’s Plan Participant members.

LPG Level 1 Operations Firefighting Training Course  

Each year, ERAC holds several Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Level 1 Operations Firefighting training courses for first responders across Canada. Course participants review commonly encountered LPG emergencies, work through strategies and tactics to safely manage the situation and complete their training with “live burn” exercises. Instructors are ERAC full-time technical advisors with NFPA 1041 instructor credentials. Many of our participants are on-call firefighters in their community.

The following training sessions have now been scheduled* for the balance of the year:

September 30 & October 1 – Leduc County, AB

October 23 - 27 – Mississippi Mills, ON

November 24 & 25 – Lucan Biddulph, ON  

* Dates are subject to change